\nIn late November, an emergent network named \u201cFor Peace Taiwan<\/a>\u201d (\u53ef\u4ee5\u81ea\u7531\u5df4) organized two solidarity events for Palestine in Taipei. I was the emcee for both events. The first event was on November 21. The second\u2014a rally on November 25\u2014attracted around eight hundred local and international attendees. The rally featured speeches, artistic performances, an open mic session, and a march around Da\u2019an Park in Central Taipei. A majority of the participants were from Muslim communities in Taipei, and a few of them also gave speeches. Some Palestinians participated in the rally, and most of the local Taiwanese participants were young people. We chanted slogans like \u201cCeasefire Now,\u201d \u201cEnd the Apartheid,\u201d \u201cFree Palestine,\u201d and \u201cEnd Genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The two events did not attract significant media attention, nor were we able to engage with the Israeli Representative Office in Taipei, who marked us as ignorant student activists who \u201cdid not condemn Hamas\u201d in their official reply to our mobilization. But speaking as the emcee, I do believe that these events provided an important platform to bring together some local Taiwanese activists and a marginalized, and often invisibilized, Muslim and Palestinian community in Taiwan to build solidarity and find solace together.<\/p>\n
The Taiwanese Left is weak and scattered, so it was significant that these two events provided a rallying point for the Left, while marking the first time in recent memory that discussions about Palestine actually turned into activist engagement with Palestinian voices in Taipei. Despite the informal and hasty manner in which we gathered, activists from different social movements and backgrounds, including artists, human rights organizations, anti-imperialist collectives, and queer organizers, were able to come together. This emergent coalition proves that bringing the local Left and Palestinian migrants together is, indeed, possible.<\/p>\n